After your large furniture purchases, when it come to expensive buys in the living room, a rug can be high up there. And considering all the places homeowners experiment with rugs–the dining room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the home office–expenses can rack up quickly! We’ve come across two DIY projects recently that we think could help someone looking for an affordable rug option.

Apartment Therapy, that bastion of home design, totally would have two awesome, easy-to-do and affordable rug ideas. Seriously, just about anyone could tackle these suckers. The first is a brilliant idea to take lots of door mats (which are often very affordable and come in punchy and fun patterns and colors) and sew them together to create a sort of patchwork rug. You could choose any size you needed, and depending on the color of the “thread” or the pattern of the rugs, it could still look like a streamlined, modern rug. See how to do it here.

The second idea is to take a cheap, old or used plain color rug, and using a rubber mat or some other stenciling/stamping object, create a repeating block print. Presto! A fabulously patterned rug for the cheap (that won’t look cheap at all!). Since anything involving paint can get a little tricky, we suggest checking out the original post to get all the deets and instructions. Happy rug making!